So..2030 is not far away now....

I remember how it was just yesterday when I was 11 years old,watching Titanic and wishing Rose would also die with Jack..yes, I have a mean streak when it comes to handsome guys dying for selfish,rich girls :P

But I digress!

The point is-it was the year 1997. I was in 5th standard. Those were the days when we used to live in this city called Patna in Bihar, one of the (then) most impoverished states. However, the condition of Bihar is not the main crux of this story...

In those days, whenever we wanted to see a movie, and being a completely in-love-with-films family, we wanted to see loads of movies-we had to go through a series of steps.

Step 1-Alarm for 7 AM Sunday morning,co-ordinated in mine + my sister's room along with that in parents' room;

Step 2-Miss the alarm, wake up when the milkman came at 8 AM;

Step 3-Frantically wake up Dad who is a complete Kumbhakaran!

Step 4- Dad wakes up, gets ready in a jiffy and leaves by 8.15 AM for the theatre.

Step 5-He reaches theatre by 8.30, stands in line for tickets as advance booking opened at 9 AM.

Step 6-Depending on the popularity of film, the length of the line, my Dad's willingness to yell at everyone else and at the guy manning the ticket counter, he would either get the tickets or not while we sat biting our nails at home.

Step 7-Dad comes home beaming with happiness,tickets procured,we leave for movie, have dinner,come back Happy Happy :)

OR

Step 7- Dad came home fuming with anger at all the badtameej people around him jostling him for a movie and we all sulked that Sunday watching a rerun of Baazigar or Saajan or Anjaam or Darr or some such other movie we had already seen 1000 times :D

But now-This is 2013 and Today if I want to see any movie, all I got to do is log on to the net, choose my preferred theatre + time + day + seats, pay online securely and within minutes I have got confirmed tickets on my phone + email! Waltz in like a King at the theatre, show my confirmation SMS/ email and get paper tickets, enter, buy popcorn, watch and enjoy!

NO WONDER ONLINE SHOPPING IS HERE TO STAY!

The same can be said about everything else..Groceries, Clothes, Cosmetics, Shoes, Bags, Watches, Perfumes, Cakes, Gifts, Gadgets, Flowers..everything is available online and our life is becoming easier day by day.

Of course there are still issues-

• Low Internet Penetration
• Online Security issues
• Online Payment issues
• Indian masses still not very comfortable with idea of using Credit Card/ Online Banking
• Hacking, Danger of Hijacking Financial Information
• Indians are still very used to physical products-touching and feeling products before buying
• Women love bargaining!
• Concerns about Return Policy
• Shipping and Delivery concerns

But I see all these issues being taken care of within next 5 years. After all, the Online Shopping boom has hit Indian markets majorly in past 5 years only and we need to give everything some time before it gains some solid grounding and makes unbelievable leaps.

I am sure by 2030, Internet would be available free of cost to everyone, there will be solid fool-proof methods to detect and punish hackers/ phishers, all our financial security will be safe, there will be instant delivery of whatever we want, and we would all be spoilt for choices ! Today, telecommunications and technology has brought the whole world together in such a way that was unthinkable just a decade ago. In next 17 years, just imagine how much development will be done in the fields of technology, Internet and telecommunications! Skype, Robotics, 3D Printing, WI-FI are just some of the technological advancements we are still marvelling over, I can only wonder at how much all this would have grown by 2030..

Whoa! My head is spinning just thinking about the possibilities! I need to take a minute to figure out a better way to put my point across :)

-Thinking and Pondering,

Richa :)

This post is written for The Future of Shopping contest on Indiblogger sponsored by Ebay India !